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Compare And Contrast Grendel And Beowulf

1338 Words6 Pages

Many people change in certain situations they are presented in according to different cultures and religious views. Every culture has different perspectives and views of their heroes. In the epic Beowulf (Heaney 2000) and the film Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005) you can see how each have different values and beliefs of the mighty geat hero Beowulf. Even though they illustrate the same language and culture they differ in many ways. Throughout the film, Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf’s character changes over the course of the film illustrating to us the idea that it is not easy to comprehend what the difference is between what is good and evil in a culture. Unlike the film, the epic reveals a Beowulf that never undergoes any changes of belief that Grendel is evil and a monster. In the epic Beowulf is seen and praised as a hero and a god that does everything for the greater good of humanity. He is said to have no imperfections and most of all to have inhuman strength that is noticeable throughout the epic. In past times …show more content…

We see where they induce our modern principles of thinking and acting by showing us how he deals with Grendel’s death and how his view of him change after that.They show us how he is confronted with the son of Grendel and spares his life without thinking. This shows us that Beowulf has a heart and takes his feelings into consideration about the situation that is presented before him, which is a modern action that would be considered in our culture now.Was this an act of guilt or remorse we don't know, but this does not happen in the book and it is a sign that in today's culture we feel for the things we do wrong no matter what is good or what is bad. it shows the difference that our two cultures have that one doesn't value the true meaning of good and evil while the other takes into consideration both sides and is more

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Throughout John Garder’s novel and the poem Beowolf the reader can tell that Grendel is a complex character that does not relate much to anyone else in the novel or the poem. Grendel in Garder’s novel is also different compared to the Grendel in the poem Beowolf by many different standards. Grendel in Garder’s novel is more a complicated character then the Grendel in Beowolf because the novel is set in first person point of view, the reader can have a deeper understanding of Grendel in the novel, and there is more modern philosophy in Grendel the novel. The novel Grendel is all written in first person which gives a deeper understanding of how Grendel interprets what is happening and how he reacts too many of the conflicts that happen to him.

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